austraLasia 1381
China's independent Catholic voice - again
HONG KONG: 6th January 2006 -- If there are two names that turn up in the world press with almost monotonous regularity they are Bishop Zen and Cardinal Rodriguez (though the latter sometimes gets 'Maradiaga' which I believe he does not prefer). They are not loose cannons, but their voices do reverberate around the world and explode uncomfortably close to certain realities. One of those realities is China. 'Big', continental China, where Joseph Zen was born in 1932, Shanghai, and left in 1948 for the then independent Hong Kong, a year before Mao came on the scene.
The Holy Spirit Study Centre in HK, an acknowledged and authoritative source of useful information about things Catholic in China, has recently published 'unofficial' figures of the Church in China. As the Vatican-published figures tend to run at least two years late, the Holy Spirit figures are of passing and current interest: 12 million Catholics in a population of 1.2 billion. 138 dioceses; number of Bishops: - in the Open Church 64, in the Underground Church 39; number of Priests - in the Open Church 180 (Old); 1,620 (Young), in the Underground Church 200( Old); 900 (Young); number of Sisters - in the Open Church 3,600, in the Underground Church 1,200; number of Seminaries - Major 14, Minor 18, in the Underground Church 10; number of Seminarians - in the Open Church 640, in the Underground Church Circa 800; Minor seminarians in the Open Church 500; number of Novitiates - in the Open Church 40, in the Underground Church 20; number of Sisters in Formation - in the Open Church 600, in the Underground Church 600.
Just yesterday, Bishop Zen had a full page interview published in the Italian daily, L'Avvenire. It is to be hoped that this newspaper has got the interview correct, because it publishes what it purports to be the Holy Spirit Study Centre figures for China also, but they are plainly wrong! The ones above are the actual figures published by HSSC. Anyway, L'Avvenire points out that 'this Salesian has become an authoritative leader not only for the 300,000 Catholics in Hong Kong but for everyone in the democratic movement'. The interview is too long to repeat here, but its major points we can list easily enough.
Bishop Zen is asked what he thinks of China's economic development - he didn't answer the question as asked but commented on the heavy 'yoke' (and that became L'Avvenire's headline) that China's Communist Party structure and methods have imposed on all its citizens. It is a yoke he believes the Church is actually beginning to shift a little. 'We are winning back some significant spaces for freedom', because the government might control structures but it can't control hearts and minds. He is asked the obvious question about the so-called open and underground distinction, but the interviewer assumes the answer and asks what is being done about reconciliation. To some extent the response assumes the answer too and goes on to point out that the official Church is headless, both the Episcopal Conference and the Patriotic Association. One died, the other is sick and discredited in the eyes of the faithful. But on the other hand, he points out, 85% of official Bishops have also sought and gained Vatican recognition. The Taiwan question is the next Bishop Zen is asked about: His reply is that 'we have to explain it well to the faithful in Taiwan that it [Holy See diplomatic relations with China] is not a betrayal but imposed necessarily by circumstances'. But nor is he sanguine that this will happen overnight. The Vatican's insistence on the granting of religious freedom will be the sticking point.
The final question is about Bishop Zen's personal support for the democratic movement. Is he afraid of involving the Church in strictly political questions? The answer is unequivocal, even a touch blunt: 'Listen here! The Catholic Church in Hong Kong took part two years ago in demonstrations about the famous article 23....now universal suffrage is in question....it is the citizens' right. It is a right that the Church cannot NOT defend'.
_______________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
China's independent Catholic voice - again
HONG KONG: 6th January 2006 -- If there are two names that turn up in the world press with almost monotonous regularity they are Bishop Zen and Cardinal Rodriguez (though the latter sometimes gets 'Maradiaga' which I believe he does not prefer). They are not loose cannons, but their voices do reverberate around the world and explode uncomfortably close to certain realities. One of those realities is China. 'Big', continental China, where Joseph Zen was born in 1932, Shanghai, and left in 1948 for the then independent Hong Kong, a year before Mao came on the scene.
The Holy Spirit Study Centre in HK, an acknowledged and authoritative source of useful information about things Catholic in China, has recently published 'unofficial' figures of the Church in China. As the Vatican-published figures tend to run at least two years late, the Holy Spirit figures are of passing and current interest: 12 million Catholics in a population of 1.2 billion. 138 dioceses; number of Bishops: - in the Open Church 64, in the Underground Church 39; number of Priests - in the Open Church 180 (Old); 1,620 (Young), in the Underground Church 200( Old); 900 (Young); number of Sisters - in the Open Church 3,600, in the Underground Church 1,200; number of Seminaries - Major 14, Minor 18, in the Underground Church 10; number of Seminarians - in the Open Church 640, in the Underground Church Circa 800; Minor seminarians in the Open Church 500; number of Novitiates - in the Open Church 40, in the Underground Church 20; number of Sisters in Formation - in the Open Church 600, in the Underground Church 600.
Just yesterday, Bishop Zen had a full page interview published in the Italian daily, L'Avvenire. It is to be hoped that this newspaper has got the interview correct, because it publishes what it purports to be the Holy Spirit Study Centre figures for China also, but they are plainly wrong! The ones above are the actual figures published by HSSC. Anyway, L'Avvenire points out that 'this Salesian has become an authoritative leader not only for the 300,000 Catholics in Hong Kong but for everyone in the democratic movement'. The interview is too long to repeat here, but its major points we can list easily enough.
Bishop Zen is asked what he thinks of China's economic development - he didn't answer the question as asked but commented on the heavy 'yoke' (and that became L'Avvenire's headline) that China's Communist Party structure and methods have imposed on all its citizens. It is a yoke he believes the Church is actually beginning to shift a little. 'We are winning back some significant spaces for freedom', because the government might control structures but it can't control hearts and minds. He is asked the obvious question about the so-called open and underground distinction, but the interviewer assumes the answer and asks what is being done about reconciliation. To some extent the response assumes the answer too and goes on to point out that the official Church is headless, both the Episcopal Conference and the Patriotic Association. One died, the other is sick and discredited in the eyes of the faithful. But on the other hand, he points out, 85% of official Bishops have also sought and gained Vatican recognition. The Taiwan question is the next Bishop Zen is asked about: His reply is that 'we have to explain it well to the faithful in Taiwan that it [Holy See diplomatic relations with China] is not a betrayal but imposed necessarily by circumstances'. But nor is he sanguine that this will happen overnight. The Vatican's insistence on the granting of religious freedom will be the sticking point.
The final question is about Bishop Zen's personal support for the democratic movement. Is he afraid of involving the Church in strictly political questions? The answer is unequivocal, even a touch blunt: 'Listen here! The Catholic Church in Hong Kong took part two years ago in demonstrations about the famous article 23....now universal suffrage is in question....it is the citizens' right. It is a right that the Church cannot NOT defend'.
_______________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For RSS feeds, subscribe to www.bosconet.aust.com/rssala.xml
